Durban – The ANC is in its death throes while the DA is the party that will lead the country into the future, Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane said on Friday. 

Speaking outside the Phoenix police station in Durban on Youth Day, he said the DA was the only party with the most amount of young people in Parliament, and that the party, civic associations, and churches had one common enemy.

“The enemy is anybody who steals opportunities from young people and provides them for their corrupt friends. In 2019, there’ll be a DA-led coalition in South Africa,” said Maimane.

He also took a swipe at deputy police minister Bongani Mkongi. 

“The ANC has only got one person under 35, and if I’m not mistaken it’s Mkongi. Hey, that one is a drunkard,” Maimane claimed. 

The DA leader likened the ANC to an animal that “kicks the hardest” when it’s about to die.

“That’s why we are sick and tired of reading emails about Gupta’s and listening that people are fighting everywhere – let them fight. The DA will fight for the future of South Africa.” 

He said the country would still be the same if deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa former African Union commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma become president of the ANC at the end of the day, and president of the country in 2019. 

“That’s why we want change,” said Maimane.

He said the was dead and is the party of the past, while “the DA is the party of the future”. 

He said that when the DA talks about the youth and young people, “we’re talking about future leaders – not people who are here to become defenders of leaders but defenders of young people”.

Youth Day marks the anniversary of protest action on this date in 1976, by black schoolchildren against the oppressive Bantu education.  The demonstrations were marked by police brutality and violence against the youth.

“Young people have never been satisfied with status quo, in 1976 young people said we want equality before this rubbish education you are giving us,” Maimane said.

They took to the streets with the hope that one day, when South Africans talk about freedom, we will talk about an equal education for all, he said.

“You can’t say that Jacob Zuma represents the young people of 76, how can you say that? You’ll be insulting those young people. These young people today are asking the question, who do we give the baton to? They know they can’t give the baton to criminals. ,” said Maimane.

“To the generation of 76, if we agree that young people need a good education, if we agree that young people need work, need a future in South Africa, well hand over the baton to the blue machine,  the DA, for we want to take the future of SA,” he added.

“Under the DA, we will make sure that young people at least get a year after school for free, so that they can learn skills, they can get apprenticeships, they can be interns and be also empowered to create work. We want young people that are entrepreneurs that will start small businesses,” he said.

Maimane said that when the DA takes over national government, they’ll put a fund together for young people who want to start their own businesses.

On Friday the DA handed over a memorandum to police containing names of about 51 alleged druglords from the area.

“Our children should not speak about the drug Bluetooth but the Bluetooth that is for connected people that know how to use the internet and trade with anybody in the world – then we can say we are talking about the freedom that young people can use.”

The swapping of blood between users of Nyaope is called “Bluetooth”.